Mangaluru : Activist Swami Agnivesh said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is a conspiracy hatched by the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, and the people of India would not accept CAA, NPR and NRC. He accused the Prime Minister of crushing the Constitutional values under his feet.

He was speaking at the ‘Mangaluru Chalo – Citizenship Protection Conference’ organised by the Paura Samanvaya Samithi of Dakshina Kannada district at Dr B R Ambedkar Vedike at Mahatma Gandhi Nagar in Jeppinamogaru, on Sunday, against NRC, CAA and NPR.

Addressing the audience sitting on a chair, Swami Agnivesh and said that owing to liver-related issues, he had been advised by his doctor not to stand.

However, he said that he has been taking part in the anti-CAA rallies at Mangaluru and Bengaluru. The programme in Mangaluru will be his last public event involving a huge gathering, Agnivesh added.

Speaking on the occasion, former Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly Ramesh Kumar, said: “One cannot expect people born before the formation of Constitution, to preserve documents relating to their ancestors. since only a particular community had access to education and knew the importance of written documents.”

Pointing out that there was no reference to religion in the amendment made to the Citizenship Act, during the tenure of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, he said that the current Central Government has been building walls in people’s minds, by involving religion in CAA.

He strongly condemned the disrespectful remarks made by MP Anath Kumar Hegde and MLA Basanagauda Patil Yatnal, on Mahatma Gandhiji. The BJP leaders have been depicting British mentality, Ramesh Kumar said. The BJP chooses to worship Nathuram Godse, a traitor, who killed a fragile old man by cheat, he said.